What IS that Lovecraftian nightmare in the background? And if you say pottery, or a jar, I'll know you've been mind-slaved by the Great Race of Yith.
Clearly some abyssal horror dripping with foetid ichor from hoary ages eons past, sleeping in mindless oblivion since time immemorial.

VCX or YT-series, crewed by self-repairing droids. Outside this game I would opt for a Fury-class "interceptor" or Dynamic-class freighter (Ebon Hawk), again with droids.
The ideal would be the ability to more or less go anywhere and be alone without the need for any external support or infrastructure (except resupply).

2: Are you sure you read the book? Like, everything you write in this paragraph is wrong. The bounty hunter's only motivation isn't money. Mom struggling to reconcile her duty to the rebellion with her duty to her son is kind of the point. It's frankly astonishing that you missed this, it wasn't subtle at all and was the source of all the son's teenage angst; she left to go fight a war. If you didn't pick up that dude wasn't straight prior to that exchange, you simply weren't reading very carefully (well, or you live in a culture in which it's normal for straight guys to talk about how beautiful other guys are).
3: sort of legit. The two fake-out deaths were bull, no question. But then you wildly exaggerate your complaint and it stops being legit.
And all that stuff about the book making the Imperials look good? Uh, no. No, it really​ doesn't. It humanizes a few of them, sure, but that's as far as it goes.
Beyond that, if you guys didn't see any reviews that complained about "the gay thing," I dunno what to tell you. I certainly saw some.
"It's not about adding diversity for the sake of diversity, it's about subtracting homogeneity for the sake of realism."
as for 2: Yes I read the book. I'm aware of the mom and son's issues. NONE of their issues force them to storm the palace on a mission to kill imperial officers and other civillians. Their motivation is to stay safe, yet they BOTH defy their entire reasoning to tag along with the bounty hunter for a "share" of the credits. It's weaksauce. So is Sinjir's motivation. He "Saw" Jas back on Endor, so naturally he has to risk his life to save her? Because he Saw her look at him? It's too far fetched even for fiction.
3: I can think of 3 fake deaths right away, and I'm pretty sure there were more than 3. 1-Wedge dead on the floor, 2 Temmin dead after being thrown, and 3 Nora dead in a TIE Fighter at the end. They were all written with finality - like this person is honestly dead. It got old, real quick.
Norra "died" in a TIE fighter twice, actually. That makes it 200% more annoying.

I could say the same regarding religous beliefs and perspectives on homosexuality.
There were actually three gay characters in the book. Objectively, they weren't written poorly and there was not much emphasis on any kind of sexual activity other than the bounty hunter's proposition (which was fairly PG in itself).
None of that bothered me. It is my opinion that the author's inclusion of multiple gay characters was pretty forced and is more of a real-life social commentary than a workable sci-fi narrative. But still this is not a book that I would caution my religious peers against on merit of those characters' sexual identity. If anything, I just thought it was poorly-written.
The book has some merit (I will admit that I enjoyed some of the interludes) and I tend to be very forgiving; I am a prequel fan, an OT fan, and a sequel fan. But still I believe this book proves that not-EU can be just as awful as old-EU.
Edit: brevity

I hated it. It's paced like he wrote it in a chat window. Approximately half of the book is incomplete sentences that read like this:
The TIE jukes left.
And right.
And left again.
Then out of nowhere: an explosion.
And stuff.
It also did nothing to separate itself from the super-cheese of the EU or the most cartoony bits of Clone Wars and Rebels.
Edit: Half-ninja'd

Pfft, give me Tri-fighters, Nantex, and the Sith Infiltrator and I'll gladly fly seps.
Porax-38, Belbullab-22, and Hyena bomber, while you're at it.
I'm holding out for the V-wing being in the standalone-but-compatible Clone Wars-era game that deep down in my heart I know is still going to happen.

Mad Max was awesome. One of the most visually engaging films I've ever seen.
Miller deliberately slowed the framerate down or sped it up to make sure each scene was understandable; this was a huge benefit to me, as I have trouble visually tracking most action movies. I am almost as burned out on shakycam as I am with prequel trilogy bashing. It's all so... pointless and fifteen years ago.